Modern hearing assistance devices, such as hearing aids, typically include digital electronics to enhance the wearer's listening experience. Hearing aids are electronic instruments worn in or around the ear that compensate for hearing losses by specially amplifying sound. Hearing aids use transducer and electro-mechanical components which are connected via wires to the hearing aid circuitry.
Hearing assistance devices, or listening devices, include the capability to receive audio from a variety of sources. For example, a hearing assistance device may receive audio or data from a transmitter or an assistive listening device (ALD). Audio information can be digitized, packetized and transferred as digital packets to and from the hearing instruments for the purpose of streaming entertainment or other content. Some listening systems use a device to wirelessly transmit an audio signal from a television to the hearing aid. For this wireless transmission, the device encodes the audio signal and transmits the signal. Then the hearing aid receives the signal, decode the signal, and convert the signal into an audio signal for the listener. This processing introduces delay in the audio stream causing the audio signal to be delayed relative to the video signal.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for processing audio and video signals for a listening system.